July 6 (UPI) — The White House marked Independence Day by releasing a scathing report on the Smithsonian Institution, particularly the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, for what it called “extreme political activism.”
The report, “Saving America’s Story: How Ideological Capture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Erases Our Heritage,” accuses the museum of anti-white bias and claims it “no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit and discourage our citizens.”
The report takes exception to display language that “refuses to affirm the exceptional courage of the American people” and displays that connect the Founding Fathers with slavery, along with many other complaints.
It also says the museum endorses illegal immigration, advocates transgender issues and focuses on Christianity as “an instrument of conquest, exclusion or cultural erasure.”
Julissa Marenco, a spokeswoman for the Smithsonian, said in a statement, “For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed todoing so,” The New York Times reported.
The report was written by the Domestic Policy Council, a White House organization tasked with the president’s domestic agenda. Vince Haley, its leader, was in charge of the administration’s celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The report particularly criticizes Anthea Hartig, the Smithsonian’s director, saying she has “advanced an ideological agenda contradictory to museum’s founding purpose of fostering patriotism.”
According to the Smithsonian’s website, the institution was founded in 1846 to be “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” It oversees 21 museums and The National Zoo.
This new report is a follow-up to President Donald Trump‘s executive order in March 2025. In that order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” Trump tasked Vice President JD Vance with overhauling the Smithsonian with Congress.
The White House also ordered the institution to turn over thousands of pages of documents, threatening it with budget cuts. The Smithsonian has been independent of the president and executive branch but derives more than half of its budget from federal sources.
Trump’s executive order in 2025 ordered Vance to “prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.”
NEW YORK — A White House report brands the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution, especially at the National Museum of American History, as radical activists who cannot be trusted, indicating that President Trump may be preparing to install his own team.
The report released late on Independence Day by the White House Domestic Policy Council comes in the midst of Trump’s aggressive campaign to overhaul some of Washington’s most sacred cultural and historic institutions. Trump in March revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order that targeted funding for programs that advanced “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology,” as he continued a broadside against culture he deems too liberal.
“The Smithsonian Institution, and the National Museum of American History in particular, under its current leadership and current interpretive ideology, cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic,” according to the report by the council, which is led by a former top Trump speechwriter.
The authors added: “As this report shows, confirmed in the words of Museum leadership, this ideological capture has moved the Museum’s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.”
The Smithsonian did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.
Historian Lonnie Bunch, the Smithsonian’s current secretary, is the first African American to lead the institution. In an unrelated interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Bunch said “the notion of being a more perfect union, not the perfect union, is really what motivates me.”
“I think what I want people to understand is that there is a responsibility to continue to make those aspirations available, accessible, meaningful to a whole range of people,” Bunch said. “And that, in essence, America’s greatest strength, it’s not running away from its history, but it’s understanding how that history shaped us and continues to shape us.”
Historian Anthea M. Hartig is the first woman to serve as director of National Museum of American History.
Trump’s escalating effort to force changes at the Smithsonian marks the Republican president’s latest move to transform cultural pillars of society, such as universities and art, that he considers out of step with conservative sensibilities. Trump had himself installed as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the aim of overhauling programming, and his handpicked board voted to add his name to the building, only to have a federal judge later order the signage to be removed.
The administration also forced Columbia University to make a series of policy changes by threatening the Ivy League school with the loss of several hundred million dollars in federal funding.
Trump has also imposed changes on historical sites beyond Washington, including in Philadelphia, where the administration won a court ruling last week allowing it to reinstall interpretive panels that critics say whitewash the history of slavery at the site of President George Washington’s home. Advocates, academics and officials have been concerned for months that the version that complies with Trump’s order could give a history that plays down the pain in the nation’s past in favor of a more triumphant view.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., accused Trump and his allies of trying to “rewrite history.”
“There’s not one individual narrative that a president gets about our history,” Shapiro, a potential presidential prospect, said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And any president should want to make sure that that full history is shared, that the American people are able to draw their own conclusions.”
Shapiro added, “If we understand where we came from, we’re going to have a better path forward.”
Trump’s Domestic Policy Council does not necessarily agree.
The National Museum of American History “confronts visitors with materials intended to undermine faith in American institutions and the longstanding shared ideals of the American people,” the council’s report said. “We must be committed to restoring truth and sanity in how American history is presented and taught.”
In seeking to fulfill Trump’s order, which he called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” the review concluded by finding that the museum “by the intention and at the direction of current Museum and Smithsonian leadership, has become subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.”
EXCLUSIVE: Rae Knopik, 31, was always determined to find out more about her Italian roots, and now she’s able to dive into her history further than she ever imagined after winning a €1 (86p) home in Troina with the love of her life
Couple meet in Italy and win €1 house
A couple managed to snap up a €1 (86p) home in Italy after finding love in the romantic country. Rae Knopik, 31, had always been determined to explore her Italian heritage, and now she’s able to delve into her roots further than she ever dreamed possible. The social media personality, who has amassed over 35,000 followers on Instagram eager to follow her adventures, opened up about how she managed to secure her dream home alongside her fiancé Declan Norrie, 31.
Rae, who is American, explained that her family originally hails from Sicily. Her ancestors ended up settling in the US when her great-great-grandmother and great-great-grandfather emigrated, despite her great-great-grandmother being reluctant to do so at the time.
Rae explained: “She never learnt English and never smiled in her family photographs. I found her so fascinating and I wanted to return to my Sicilian heritage.”
Eventually, Rae relocated to Florence, where she lived for a period of time. It was there that she met Declan, the man she is now set to wed.
“I met the love of my life when I was in Florence. Four weeks after meeting him, I was on a plane to Australia, and I’ve been here ever since,” she added.
However, when Covid struck, the pair began browsing the internet for travel videos while they were unable to venture far from home, and it was during this time that they stumbled across the €1 (86p) property in Troina. While it’s not something many people would seriously contemplate without a lot of thought, they simply thought “why not?” and threw their names into the hat.
After taking part in a series of interviews, they heard nothing for quite some time — but then everything changed in an instant.
Rae added: “They waited for about 12 months. We didn’t tell anyone about it in case the house didn’t pan out but, in May 2022, they said ‘you have won the house, would you like to come see it?'”
The couple flew over in June and snapped it up almost immediately. They later found out that roughly 60,000 people had entered for the property, meaning they had truly struck gold.
When asked about the condition of the property, Rae said: “We knew it was going to be a complete renovation. We didn’t know how long it’d been since someone had lived in the house.
“They clean it up, but you know it’s going to be a complete renovation. We didn’t even think we’d have running water so we were pretty pleased with the house.
“It was over 60 years since someone had lived in it. It is a complete renovation journey.”
The couple must now carry out a full overhaul of the property, entirely at their own expense. There are also certain conditions they are required to adhere to.
Renovation regulations, however, can vary considerably depending on the area when it comes to €1 properties. It’s therefore essential to thoroughly research the rules before putting in an application for any property.
She also pointed out that people can have the wrong idea about purchasing them. They are far from simple bargains, as Rae explained that a considerable amount of effort and money is required to make them habitable.
Nevertheless, Rae has ambitious plans for the property, and the couple are also planning to tie the knot in Italy, with some of the locals even intending to come along. For this young pair, they may well end up returning to the very place that sparked their whirlwind romance.
When asked to describe Troina, Rae said that as you drive towards it, it looks like “a castle in the sky”, adding that “it’s quite romantic”. She now hopes the home will be transformed into a stunning retreat for them to share with loved ones once the renovation is complete.
“I want my family to use it,” she added. “Me and Declan want to settle there at some point for months or even years, but I hope it will be used by my family.”
A brother of veteran NFL star Calais Campbell has been charged with the murder of their mother in her Atlanta home on Tuesday.
Ciarre Campbell, one of the Baltimore Ravens defensive end’s seven siblings, faces two counts of murder as well as aggravated assault, and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony in connection with the death of his 71-year-old mother Nateal Campbell, according to the affidavits for his arrest issued by the magistrate court of Fulton County, Ga.
“We are devastated to share that the Campbell Family has lost its matriarch, Mrs. Nateal Campbell,” the family said in a statement. “While the details of her passing are still being investigated, we take comfort in knowing she is reunited with our father, her beloved Chuck, and in the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask for privacy at this time so that we may honor her and share in our overwhelming grief privately and as a family.”
According to the Atlanta Police Department, officers responded Tuesday at around 12:36 p.m. to a welfare check at Nateal Campbell’s address. They found a male, later identified as Ciarre Campbell, 41, who “appeared to have barricaded himself inside the home.”
Nateal Campbell was found unresponsive inside the home and was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS services. Ciarre Campbell was detained by the officers and transported to the Fulton County Jail, where he was held without bond. He waived his initial court hearing Wednesday.
A booking photo of Ciarre Campbell provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday.
(Fulton County Sheriff’s Office Via Associated Press)
WSB-TV in Atlanta reports that Ciarre Campbell is being represented by defense attorney Jay Abt, who told the station that his client is innocent.
“We look forward to his day in court,” Abt said. “I’m honored to defend him and, most importantly, the Campbell family.”
In a 911 call released by police, a man said he was calling for authorities to check on his mother at her house. He said he was there with his sister and brother-in-law but they couldn’t get inside. According to the caller, his brother — whom the caller says is “mentally ill” — had been staying at the house and was seen driving their mother’s car, “which is very unusual [because] he doesn’t drive at all.”
The caller said his brother was inside the house and told them their mother had left, even though video footage from a neighbor showed that wasn’t the case.
The affidavit for arrest stated that Ciarre Campbell created “incisions upon the victim’s neck causing her to be nearly decapitated.”
Atlanta police say they have received at least 10 calls for service at that address since September, including one in April reporting arson. According to a police report from that incident, Kimba Blaylock had called 911 because her brother, identified in the report as Ciarrie Campbell, had started a fire to rid the house of demons.”
Firefighters found no one inside the house.
Another police report from May 26 states that police were dispatched to the address on a dispute call. The responding officer wrote that a neighbor told him that her neighbor’s son, identified in the report as Ciarri Campbell, “was acting crazy and putting stuff in her trash and yelling at her.” She told the officer that the neighbor’s son had just been released from a hospital “for mental issues” a couple of days earlier.
The neighbor also said that Nateal Campbell had told her that her son “was a good kid.”
Calais Campbell is a five-time Pro Bowl selection who has played 18 seasons in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons and Ravens. He was named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2019.
“We are incredibly saddened to learn about the passing of Calais Campbell’s mother,” the Ravens said Wednesday in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences and full support to Calais and his family during this difficult time.”
June 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump reported billions of dollars in income, revenue and other proceeds during his first year back in the White House, much of it tied to cryptocurrency ventures, according to his annual financial disclosure released Tuesday.
Trump reported at least $2.1 billion in income, revenue and other proceeds last year, according to his financial disclosure made public by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, with more than half tied to cryptocurrency.
Though Trump was initially skeptical about cryptocurrencies,, he embraced the digital currencies — and their supporters — during his third campaign for the White House. After being elected, he created what some analysts have called a crypto-friendly administration.
During his first year in office, he took several actions in support of the crypto industry, including signing a digital-assets executive order during his first week in office and creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve and U.S. digital asset stockpile.
The 927-page financial disclosure states the president reported more than $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency income and proceeds, including $635 million from his $TRUMP meme coin and nearly $800 million from World Liberty Financial, a Trump family-linked cryptocurrency venture.
The $TRUMP memecoin was a cryptocurrency Trump announced days before his inauguration. He announced the $MELANIA memecoin the day before he was inaugurated.
Memecoins are cryptocurrencies with little to no intrinsic utility, often derived from Internet memes and supported by online communities or fans.
After Trump announced the coins, critics accused him of attempting to profit from the presidency.
The disclosure also shows that Trump reported tens of millions in revenue from golf, resort and real estate-related holdings, including $121.9 million from Trump Doral, $77.5 million from Mar-a-Lago, $37.6 million from his Lamington Farm Club, $36.9 million from Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach and $31.6 million from his Jupiter Golf Club, among others.
NEW YORK — The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would freeze federal funding for New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a state agency responsible for investigating and prosecuting fraud in the safety-net government healthcare program.
In a letter sent to New York officials, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Thomas March Bell accused the state of not securing enough criminal indictments and said millions of dollars in funding would be suspended through at least Sept. 30.
The move is the second suspension of a state Medicaid fraud unit this year by the Republican Trump administration, and part of a barrage of anti-fraud actions it has aggressively promoted in the healthcare sector. They have included the creation of a new task force, targeted investigations, funding deferrals and demands for revalidation of healthcare providers that have touched all states but are focused largely on Democratic ones.
The pulled funding also comes after the administration admitted a glaring error in figures meant to help justify a fraud inquiry into New York’s Medicaid program this year, a mistake critics said revealed a Trumpian tendency to attack first and verify the facts later.
New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, a Democrat, immediately vowed to fight Tuesday’s funding freeze.
“During my time as Attorney General, my office has recovered over $627 million for Medicaid and was recognized by this very administration for leading the nation in anti-fraud efforts,” she wrote. “We are considering all legal options to stop this outrageous action.”
Letter accuses New York of low performance compared to other states
Bell’s letter to James and New York Medicare Fraud Control Unit Director Amy Held argues that the unit is moving too slowly on cases and amassing too few indictments and convictions for wrongdoing in the Medicaid system. It notes that compared with four similarly sized units in other states, it secured the lowest number of criminal fraud convictions between 2023 and 2025.
The letter acknowledges that one reason the state has fewer criminal convictions than others is that it made a deliberate choice to focus on “high impact, complex fraud cases” rather than smaller-scale individual cases, but says that trade-off didn’t produce sufficient results.
“Enough is enough,” Bell wrote. “The New York MFCU has failed to comply with the terms and conditions of its MFCU grant award.”
Bell said in the letter that the funding suspension could be lifted before Sept. 30 if New York takes corrective action, “showing it has remediated concerns that formed the basis for this suspension.” He said if the state doesn’t fix the problems, the freeze will continue.
New York officials dispute the Trump administration’s claims
New York’s attorney general’s office said in a statement that it has “long been recognized as a national leader in effectively investigating and prosecuting Medicaid fraud schemes,” including by the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office. A 2025 report from the office notes that New York is one of four states that made up half the total civil recoveries in that year.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said most of the unit’s criminal convictions focus on company owners, executives and corporations that would return large amounts to Medicaid.
“This administration’s unprecedented attack on New York is another political distraction,” James said in a statement.
The funding cutoff follows a similar move in Hawaii. In early June, Bell told Hawaii officials that Medicaid fraud funding would be cut off there, saying that it had a three-year stretch without a Medicaid fraud indictment or conviction.
Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said there’s an irony in the federal government cutting off money intended for prosecuting fraud when its stated goal is to do just that.
“If you want to fight fraud, don’t take away money from states’ fraud control units,” she said. “I chalk this up to more political theater to distract voters from historic Medicaid cuts before the midterms.”
Move follows months of federal warnings and deferrals
For months, the Trump administration has contended that states — especially some Democratic-led ones — have been lax about fraud in social safety-net programs, including Medicaid.
It has demanded that at least five states, four of them governed by Democrats, share information about how they identify, prevent and address Medicaid fraud.
The federal government has also withheld some Medicaid funding from Minnesota and California over fraud concerns. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who was Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, accused President Trump of making cuts because of retribution.
The fraud-busting efforts have also targeted Medicare programs. Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced a six-month moratorium on new enrollments for providers of hospice and home care nationally.
Swenson and Mulvihill write for the Associated Press. Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, N.J. AP writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report.
Videos show Israeli settlers, protected by Israeli soldiers, trying to seize a house under construction on the outskirts of the town of Qabalan, just south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
June 26 (UPI) — A Federal Emergency Management Agency official who claims he was once teleported to a Waffle House has been ousted from the agency, unnamed sources familiar with the situation told media outlets Friday.
Gregg Phillips, who was appointed to lead the Office of Response and Recovery in December, was asked to vacate his position because of concerns about how he’s publicly perceived, anonymous sources told The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN.
Phillips, the associate administrator for FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, posted on social media in April doubling down on his teleportation claim. He said it really happened and that it is connected to his Christianity.
“God will not be mocked,” Phillips posted on Truth Social. “People can debate me. Question me. Even ridicule what they don’t understand.”
He clarified that it happened while he was heavily medicated during cancer treatment.
“The word ‘teleportation’ was not mine,” Phillips posted on Truth Social. “It was used by someone else in the conversation reaching for language to describe something with no easy name. The more accurate biblical terms are ‘translated’ or ‘transported’ — not new ideas for people of faith.”
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Thursday that Phillips is leaving the agency, saying he is taking leave for personal reasons. But sources told CNN the departure was not by his choice.
New DHS leadership was tired of his public image and clashes with department leadership, the sources said. David Arnold, a senior official who left FEMA earlier this year, will fill in as an acting leader of the Office of Response and Recovery.
The office has more than 1,000 employees and a budget of nearly $300 million. It’s critical to the mission of responding to disasters.
Phillips was known as a conspiracy theorist, particularly concerning election fraud. He said millions of noncitizens had voted in the 2016 election. Trump also boosted those claims.
Some agency staff were unhappy with his ouster, saying he wanted to help improve the agency.
“He showed interest in preserving the mission of the agency and helping us serve citizens,” one current agency official told The Post.
Another agency official told The Post that Phillips was one of the only political appointees who supported staff and would push back against leadership such as former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem or Karen Evans, who briefly led FEMA.
White House Border Czar Tom Homan speaks during the Faith and Freedom Coalition 2026 Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on Friday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The Pentagon and the U.S. Air Force have fully abandoned an attempt to axe the acquisition of E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft, and to use E-2D Hawkeyes to help fill the resulting gap. In something of a twist, the Pentagon has proposed cutting U.S. Navy E-2D purchases, as well as raiding a classified Air Force account, to keep the E-7 program going. The House Appropriations Committee has now pushed back on the E-2D part of that plan. The back-and-forth underscores the critical importance of airborne early warning and control aircraft and the strain on existing U.S. fleets.
A Royal Australian Air Force E-7 Wedgetail flies together with a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor during an exercise. USAF
To recap quickly, roughly a year ago, the Pentagon and the Air Force disclosed their intention to axe the E-7 program, which had suffered delays and cost overruns, and acquire additional E-2Ds as an interim gap-filler. Questions about the future survivability of the Wedgetail were also raised. The Air Force’s long-term goal was then and still is now to eventually push most air moving-target indicator (AMTI) tasks into space, though that is still years away from truly becoming a reality. Congress subsequently intervened to save the Wedgetail, appropriating billions for the effort in Fiscal Year 2026. The E-7 was again missing from the Air Force’s proposed 2027 Fiscal Year budget, which raised the prospect of a new battle with Congress.
Top Pentagon and Air Force officials subsequently said that the viewpoint on the Wedgetail had fundamentally changed, and submitted an amendment to the budget request to include funding for the program. Per a memo earlier this month from Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House, this was done in two ways. $898,549,000 was taken from “Other Procurement, Air Force” section of that service’s budget proposal, while another $650,549,000 came out of “Aircraft Procurement, Navy.”
The combined $1,549,098,000 was moved into the “Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force” account. According to Vought’s memo, the funding would go toward “priority requirement to deliver two E-7 Wedgetail prototype aircraft and continue Engineering Manufacturing and Development activities for a program of record.”
The Air Force already has seven E-7s on order now, including the two jets to support rapid prototyping efforts. It is unclear when the service expects to begin flying Wedgetails operationally. Before the attempt to cancel the program, the target date for initial operational capability had already slipped from 2027 to 2032. It should be noted here that variants of the E-7 are already in service in Australia, South Korea, and Turkey, and that the United Kingdom is set to field a fleet of Wedgetails, too.
A Royal Australian Air Force E-7 Wedgetail. Australian Department of Defense
The report the House Appropriations Committee released yesterday included important additional context about the latest funding plans.
“While the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2027 did not include funding for the E–7 Wedgetail program, the Secretary of the Air Force and Secretary of Defense testified before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that they support this critical platform and have submitted a budget amendment to the Office of Management and Budget to restore funding for the platform,” it explained. “The shift in mindset at the Department of Defense translated to requested transfers from the Special Update Program in Other Procurement, Air Force, and the E–2D program in Aircraft Procurement, Navy for a total investment of $1,549,098,000 for E–7 in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force in fiscal year 2027.”
“While the Committee wholly supports the E–7 program and funding realignment, the Committee also restored the E–2D program to six aircraft for fiscal year 2027,” the report added. “The Committee understands the operational necessity of the E–2D platform; the complementary nature of the E–2D and E–7; and believes that more aircraft, not fewer, are necessary to support our warfighters now and in the future.”
A pair of E-2D Hawkeyes. Lockheed Martin
It is not immediately clear whether the draft spending plan that the House Appropriations Committee has now put forward still includes the full $1,549,098,000 for the E-7 program, as well as the restoration of funding for the E-2D purchases. The memo from OMB had stressed that its intent in shifting funding around was not to add to the roughly $1.5 trillion topline for its proposed 2027 Fiscal Year defense budget. Congress can, of course, appropriate additional funds as it sees fit, and often does.
Regardless, this new debate over how and where to find funding for the E-7 highlights larger issues surrounding airborne early warning capacity within the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy.
“The conflict in Iran has reinforced the need for the Air Force to maintain a credible airborne battle management capability, currently being met with the Air Force’s E–3 Airborne Warning and Control System and the Navy’s E–2D Hawkeye programs,” the House Appropriations Committee’s report also notes. “As the E–3 is set to retire, the E–7 Wedgetail will serve as [a] modern replacement for lost battle management capability, commensurate and interoperable with assets already being utilized by key allies.”
U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia in 2022. USAF
The House Appropriations Committee report also leaves out any broader context about the planned E-2D purchases for Fiscal Year 2027. When it released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025 back in 2024, the Navy had no plans to order more Hawkeyes, at least over the next five years. In its 2026 Fiscal Year budget request, the service asked for funding for four E-2Ds, presumably as part of the plan to cancel the E-7. Congress subsequently appropriated funding for three Hawkeyes in that fiscal cycle.
When it rolled out its latest budget request earlier this year, the Navy outlined all-new plans to buy 12 E-2Ds – six in Fiscal Year 2027, two in Fiscal Year 2028, and four in Fiscal Year 2029 – explicitly “to replenish accelerated service life burn down of existing force structure due to Overland Airborne Early Warning (AEW) tasking.” This underscores operational strain on the Hawkeye fleet, which can only have been further added to by operations in relation to Iran over the past few months. This also points to E-2Ds supplementing E-3s in providing overland coverage.
An E-2D Hawkeye comes in to land on the U.S. Navy supercarrier USS Gerald R. Ford after a sortie in support of Operation Epic Fury against Iran in March, 2026. CENTCOM
How exactly the E-7 program gets funded in Fiscal Year 2027, as well as what happens to the plans to order more E-2Ds, remains to be seen. The House Appropriations Committee’s draft defense spending plan could still evolve in various ways in the coming weeks and months, and will need to be reconciled with companion legislation making its way through the Senate. Once Congress passes the bill, President Donald Trump will still need to sign off on it, too.
What is clear is that both the E-3 Sentry and E-2D Hawkeye fleets remain as critical as ever, but have been even more stressed by recent operations against Iran, with new E-7s still years away from entering service.
Daryl Hall recently underwent a kidney transplant and he’s already feeling better.
The 79-year-old musician — formerly of the iconic rock duo Hall & Oates — took to social media Tuesday to share the news.
“I thought you should know that I recently received a kidney transplant from a very kind and generous living donor,” Hall wrote in an Instagram post. “It happened a couple of weeks ago, and I’m already starting to feel better. It was, according to my doctors, a complete success!”
The “Dreamtime” singer-songwriter added that he expects to be “back to normal in a few months” and promised “more music and lots of Daryl’s House shows” in the future. Hall has been hosting “Live from Daryl’s House,” a web series where he and his band perform with guest artists, on and off since 2007.
A living-donor kidney transplant is when a healthy living person donates their kidney. The recipient is usually experiencing kidney failure. According to the National Kidney Foundation, “kidneys from a living donor may last longer and are more likely to start working right away than a kidney from a deceased donor.”
Hall did not share any additional details regarding his kidney transplant.
The “Bring It On Home” singer has opened up about other health issues in the past. In 2005, Hall & Oates had to postpone a series of shows after Hall was diagnosed with Lyme disease.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is spread through the bite of infected black-legged ticks — also known as deer ticks. Symptoms can include fever, rash, facial paralysis, an irregular heartbeat and arthritis, according to the CDC.
Diego Cano-Lasso had been looking for an architectural project when he found two hillside lots with spectacular views for sale in Mt. Washington. With work scarce in 2012, the SCI-Arc graduate persuaded his family to invest in the property, and together they bought the two plots for $95,000.
“We are not developers,” he says, “but sometimes you have to jump.”
He didn’t realize the Mt. Washington project would take 12 years to complete, including a shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, or that he, his family and friends would end up doing much of the work themselves.
Diego Cano-Lasso stands in front of the hillside lots in 2012. (Hassan Ismail)The lots today.(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
As a fan of Los Angeles’ Midcentury Modern architecture, he imagined designing and building a post-and-beam dream home next-door to a similar home by his aunt Lucia Cano and her husband, José Selgas, of the Madrid architecture firm SelgasCano, stretching over the hillside and connecting to the city below.
“It’s why I moved here,” Cano-Lasso says. “Midcentury design was like a dream to me, because it’s not just an architectural style; it’s a lifestyle.”
But his dream quickly hit a snag when the geotechnical engineer arrived in Mt. Washington to assess the site.
“He said the plots were unbuildable,” Cano-Lasso recalls. “He told me, ‘It is impossible. We cannot even do the soils report, because a big machine can’t fit up here on these narrow streets.’”
Eventually, Cano-Lasso found someone who visited the site and said, “No problem.”
La Canaria House by José Selgas and Lucia Cano features canary yellow aluminum tubes.
Cano-Lasso and his wife, Belén Rodero, in the open kitchen and living area of La Canaria House.
Then the city told him that he didn’t have the right to build on the property. To get permission, Cano-Lasso and his family would need to widen the narrow street, put in a sewer system and add a power pole.
Permits were just as difficult. According to Cano-Lasso, neighbors complained about the project, and the city bureaucracy dragged out the process for three years.
Eventually, he and his crew began digging into the hillside and moved more than 120 truckloads of soil through the steep, narrow streets of Mt. Washington. Without a general contractor, they managed construction themselves and hired different crews for each job.
When COVID-19 hit, construction on the project stopped, and Cano-Lasso returned to Spain. Construction did not restart until 2022, by which time the construction industry had changed and the project felt even more challenging to complete.
“Everything cost more, and there weren’t enough skilled workers,” Cano-Lasso says. As a result, Juan de Santiago, the master builder Cano-Lasso hired and calls “paramount to the project,” was too busy to finish the houses, which had windows and drywall but still needed finishing.
“The only way we could do it was by doing most of the work ourselves and with friends,” Cano-Lasso says.
With help from his brother Alejandro Cano, who is also known as Cato, and his wife, Belén Rodero, they handled everything from carpentry and metal work to lighting, wall finishes, flooring, painting, furniture, custom garage doors and landscaping.
“What I didn’t realize at the time — not even when hundreds of boxes of Moroccan tiles showed up at our door in Madrid — was that I was signing up for both a crash course and a career in tiling,” Cato says of designing murals for three of the Cano Home’s four walls. “I wasn’t expecting to lay a single tile, let alone take on the filing, sanding, rearrangement and all the care and attention required when most tiles come in odd sizes.”
Seven years and plenty of mishaps later, including the time a truck got stuck on the narrow, winding streets of Mt. Washington hauling 42-foot wooden beams, Cano-Lasso finally has a finished home that feels peaceful and warm.
With eye-catching details everywhere, the 2,250-square-foot homes feel relaxed and reflect the style of a Spanish designer inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler. (Cano-Lasso once lived in Schindler’s Sachs apartment in Silver Lake.) The open floor plan, designed by his father, Spanish architect Diego Cano Pintos, features warm oak floors, inexpensive radiata pine walls and ribbed wood ceilings.
“I am enjoying witnessing the house being lived in,” Cano-Lasso says of renting his house to music producer Jennifer Jimenez and interior designer Hanna Li, pictured right.
The rooms of the Cano House are filled with colorful art, accessories and custom furniture by Andrew Riiska and Cato. “Although we were working toward a deadline on a project that had already been under construction for several years, most pieces of furniture were designed and fabricated on site, with the conviction that we were building something special,” Cato says of setting up a furniture workshop in the garage.
Ceramic rain gutters from Ceramiques Est in Spain have been repurposed as wall-mounted light fixtures for indoor use. Door handles are made from stones found on the beach, and glass light fixtures by Luz Mixtura in Spain echo Robert Irwin’s disc installations. Large boulders from the excavation were brought inside to serve as furniture. Built-ins were made in Spain and shipped to Los Angeles in three containers. Outside, the house is covered in shou sugi ban charred-wood siding, which they installed themselves.
Both homes have similar structures and layouts with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, but La Canaria House features canary yellow powder-coated aluminum tubes inspired by California sunsets, while the Cano House is minimal and warm. “The homes are all about the beams,” Cano-Lasso says, which makes them look like they are floating above the city.
The neutral rooms feel warm and simple, with striking pops of yellow that reflect Southern California’s sunshine and decks that allow a smooth flow from indoors to outdoors.
Li, left, and Jimenez in their music room. The custom DJ workstation, designed by Li, is clad in ceramic tiles designed to look like plywood.
Behind the Cano House, Cano-Lasso created a narrow outdoor space with built-in banquette seating, a raised-bed herb garden and a water fountain. Now the house opens up to the outdoors, making it easy to entertain. “The garden is the coolest feature,” he says. “It really makes the house feel special.”
In some ways, the modern design has revived the midcentury ideal by using post-and-beam construction, an open floor plan, simple materials and easy indoor-outdoor access, all with Cano Lasso’s artistic touch.
But finishing the project also left Cano-Lasso with the large debt he took on — he estimates the project cost about $1 million, although he saved around 40% by acting as his own contractor.
Cano-Lasso and his wife divide their time between La Canaria House and a project in Venice, so he is renting out his dream house to interior designer Hannah Li and music producer Jennifer Jimenez, who grew up together in Pasadena.
Li descends the spiral staircase to the music room on the first floor.
Renting such a personal project might seem overwhelming for the tenants, since the rental included some of Cano-Lasso’s custom furnishings, but the two have made the house their own. They added a striking listening room on the first floor, with a turntable lined with ceramic tiles designed by Li to resemble plywood.
“We’re all artists in this house,” Jimenez says. “We’re always creating here, and other music producers often come over to make music and jam with us. It’s such an inspiring, creative space.”
“It’s a very comfortable house,” adds Li, who enjoys practicing archery on the terrace deck.
The friends’ rental is filled with treasures from their travels, along with pieces Li designed specifically for the home. Li turned one of the first-floor bedrooms into a cozy study by paneling the walls with wood and adding textiles she collected on her trips.
Recently, they hosted a birthday party with art-making stations, candle-making and even goats and they invited their landlord. “Mt. Washington has so many artists, so it’s wonderful to bring everyone together,” Li says.
Cano-Lasso, greets Jimenez, center, and Li on their side-by-side terraces.
When asked if he might consider tackling another hillside project, Cano-Lasso laughs.
“When I finished, I said, ‘I will never do that again,’” he says. “Now I’m starting to think there’s a plot of land for sale nearby. We installed a sewer line, so why not take advantage of it?”
Despite his debt, he isn’t planning to sell the house. “In a way, the project doesn’t finish with construction; I am enjoying witnessing the house being lived in,” he says. Even if he’s not the one living in it.
June 23 (UPI) — Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a sweeping bipartisan housing package that seeks to lower housing costs and expand homeownership access, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.
On Monday, the Senate passed the bill in a similarly overwhelming 85-5 outcome.
“This bill speaks to the real change that our constituents have been demanding, where everyone can afford a dignified place to call home, where tenants are protected and where working Americans can finally get ahead,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, said from the House floor on Tuesday.
The vote follows months of haggling over the bill’s content by the House and Senate and Democrats and Republicans. In the end, the sweeping bill includes more than 60 pieces of legislation, 36 of which were sponsored by bipartisan lawmakers, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The bill aims to increase housing supply while lowering costs, limiting corporate and institutional ownership for rental purposes and expanding financing for lower-income individuals.
Provisions target bureaucracy to hasten development while seeking to modernize federal housing programs and banking regulations to expand local lending and offer incentives to local governments that prioritize more housing.
Habitat for Humanity, the global nonprofit aimed at helping families build homes, applauded the legislation’s passage on Tuesday, saying it “will bring homeownership within reach for more Americans by tackling longstanding barriers in the housing system.”
“With the passage of this major legislative package, Congress has demonstrated strong, bipartisan leadership by coming to an agreement and taking a critical step in addressing the nation’s housing affordability challenge,” Jonathan Reckford, chief executive officer at Habitat for Humanity International, said in a statement.
The steeply divided Congress came together to pass legislation as the United States faces what some have called a housing affordability crisis.
The United States is facing a housing shortage that is disproportionately affecting lower-income individuals.
According to theNational Low Income Housing Coalition, the United States is experiencing a shortage of 7.2 million affordable units for low-income renters, with only 35 such rental homes in existence for every 100 low-income renter households.
The nonprofit said extremely low-income renters face the shortage in every state.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., described the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act as “transformational legislation” that will “help the housing affordability problem, reduce regulations so builders can build, limit institutional investing in the housing market and bring the American Dream back into reach for millions of young and working families.”
“Congress is paving a path back to homeownership for American families who have been locked out for far too long,” he said in a social media statement Tuesday night.
WASHINGTON — The Senate for the first time approved a war powers resolution Tuesday seeking to block U.S. military action against Iran, as lawmakers warily watch President Trump’s efforts to resolve a conflict that the administration launched on its own and now needs Congress to fund.
It was the 10th time the Senate has tried to stop the war, and the outcome, on a vote of 50 to 48, was a stunning turnaround from past efforts. While the resolution is largely symbolic, and does not fully carry the force of law, it reflects the growing concerns from a number of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate over both the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it. The House approved the resolution earlier this month.
“Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war instead of the American people,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
Schumer said Americans have paid the price for “Trump’s historic blunder in Iran. It’ll go down in the history books as one of the worst foreign policy forays America has ever made.”
In the past, as many as four GOP senators have voted for the war powers resolutions, and they did so Tuesday — Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. One Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted against the resolution.
On this vote, the absence of two Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was admitted to the hospital recently for an undisclosed matter, left the GOP without a full majority to halt the effort. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) also missed the vote.
The vote also comes as the Pentagon is seeking $80 billion from Congress, mostly for the Iran war as it backfills munitions and stockpiles.
Trump to meet senators as Republicans balk at Iran deal
Trump himself is headed to the Capitol this week to meet with GOP senators as Vice President JD Vance has been overseas working to negotiate with Iran to end its nuclear ambitions — which had been among the stated rationales for the war.
The president is not pleased with the Republicans who have been critical of the deal he struck with Iran, according to one GOP senator granted anonymity to discuss the private dynamics.
The terms of the Iran deal are spelled out in a memorandum of understanding that Trump signed last week, starting a 60-day clock for the sides to reach a broader agreement over ending Iran’s nuclear program.
But Republicans have particularly objected to the $300-billion fund to help Iran rebuild, which is far greater than the $1.7 billion then-President Obama refunded the country under his administration’s 2015 Iran deal.
“I believe President Trump is getting very poor advice on Iran,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said last week on his podcast after the deal was made public.
Democrats have repeatedly forced Iran votes
Over and again, Democrats have been forcing votes on the Iran war, almost since the U.S. and Israel launched missile strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
Nearly each week they’re in session, the Senate Democrats have put forward war powers resolutions, but they have failed to amass the majority needed for passage in the narrowly split chamber, where Trump’s Republican Party holds the majority.
The House pushed its own version to passage earlier this month, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in approving the war powers resolution, over the objections of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and the GOP leadership.
While such resolutions do not go to the president for his signature, passage stands as a powerful, if symbolic, statement from Congress and a rebuke of the administration’s military actions.
Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democrat from Virginia who has led his party’s efforts, said the pause in warfighting, as Trump’s team works to shore up a fragile ceasefire, provides the perfect time for Congress to step back and assess “what should the next chapter be.”
Hegseth seeks $80 billion from Congress for the Iran war
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is also on Capitol Hill this week, seeking roughly $80 billion in supplemental funding to shore up defense supplies in the aftermath of the Iran war, which is drawing scrutiny when many Americans are reeling from high gas prices and costs of living.
The Pentagon early on had estimated the war cost $11.3 billion during its first week, and experts have put the overall price tag at close to $100 billion.
The Defense Department’s funding request is part of a broader beef-up of military money the White House wants as part of its budget request this year.
The Trump administration is seeking $1.5 trillion in defense funding this year — a 50% increase — including $350 billion that it wants in a so-called budget reconciliation package. Johnson and GOP leaders are working to pass that package on their own, over the objections of Democrats, much the way they approved Trump’s big tax cuts bill last year.
The 2025 tax cuts package also included a sizable increase of about $175 billion for the military.
Paul Avery, a journeyman actor best known for his role on “All My Children,” and his wife, Sheila, have died following a house fire. He was 81 and she was 77.
The couple’s death was confirmed by their daughters Parker Sanchez and Kyle Avery, who said the fire broke out in their home in Blairstown, N.J., early last Tuesday morning. While firefighters were able to reach Paul and Sheila inside the Mohican Road home, the couple succumbed to smoke inhalation.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Paul had a recurring role playing Hughie the bartender at Foxy’s on the ABC daytime soap “All My Children” for 12 years. He also acted in the 1978 film “Superman,” “Three’s Company,” “Soap,” and appeared in more than 300 commercials. He also acted in theater productions and produced plays in both New York and Los Angeles.
According to his daughters, the actor joked that his “elastic face” landed him multiple national commercials that ran concurrently. Casting directors looking for a “Paul Avery type” would turn the actor away because he was in too many commercials.
“He had a teeny tiny part — one line in Superman — but boy did he make a meal out of that,” Sanchez joked.
Kyle Avery added that at the Oscars, they played a clip from “Superman” that featured Paul reciting his line.
“His good friend ran into the kitchen and made him an Oscar out of tinfoil and handed it to him,” she said. “But I think the thing that he was proudest of was that he could make a living as an actor.”
Paul Avery was born Oct. 8, 1941; and Sheila Avery was born May 22, 1949. Paul was raised in Indianapolis, served in the Vietnam War in his 20s and moved to Los Angeles and then New York by his late 20s to try to make it as an actor. Sheila was raised in Kansas City, Mo., and moved to New York where she worked as a registered nurse but also had a background in theater.
She studied the craft in college, performed on a USO tour in Vietnam and worked as a costume mistress.
According to the couple’s daughters, the two brought their Midwest charm and sensibilities to the East Coast.
The couple met while living in an apartment building filled with other journeymen actors in the late 1970s.
“They were all part of this theater community, people who would go from regional theater to regional theater with the season,” Kyle Avery said. “They were a whole troupe of people who’d be in New York for part of the year, but then they’d go and be in Lakewood, Ohio, or Kansas City or Chicago, just following the theater.”
Sheila was previously married to John Quincy Bruce Jr., also an actor in the New York theater community and the father of Sanchez. Sheila and Paul got together in 1982 and married in 1984. They celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary in April.
Paul was a jack-of-all-trades and master of many. He was a small plane pilot who often flew into a tiny airport in Blairstown, N.J., which is how the couple discovered the town they’d call home. There, they opened a bookstore, Cabbages and Kings. Paul also launched a magazine: the Warren County Companion. According to the couple’s daughters, Paul was the first internet service provider in town. He also penned film reviews for the New Jersey Herald and some for the New York Times as well.
Sheila found what her daughters called the “perfect job,” which brought together her work as a registered nurse and background in theater: speaking in schools about domestic violence and sexual assault. She also became a counselor who worked with survivors, and a trainer who worked with volunteers, teaching them how to interact with victims.
“People who took her training 20 years ago have been contacting us and saying, ‘Your mother changed the way I thought about the world, she is the basis for my feminism,’” Sanchez said. “It’s been so fascinating to hear the ripple effects of young women who took that training from her, and who are now middle-aged women who are still thinking about her.”
The daughters said that their parents were community icons who were dedicated to service. “They had a sense of duty to the people around them,” Kyle Avery said.
“They loved to throw parties,” Sanchez said. “They hosted an annual event called Faux Giving and they would have these insane traditions, like we would have a head-measuring contest and measure the circumference of people’s heads, and then a winner gets to eat their pie first, and a badge.
“Whoever had the smallest head, everyone there would shout, ‘Pin head! Pin head!’ at this person, and it was the silliest thing in the world, but everyone who attended that event, even if they came one time, would talk about it forever.”
Kyle Avery added, “They were incredibly memorable.”
“They were community builders, they were people who wanted to nourish you in every way, and they were so good at it.”
They are survived by their children: Kyle Avery; Parker Sanchez and her husband, Pablo; Paul Avery’s son from a previous relationship, Stuart Sutherland; and their grandchildren, Avery, Duncan and Liana.
June 22 (UPI) — Federal authorities have arrested two additional suspects allegedly involved in last week’s foiled attack targeting the Ultimate Fighting Championship bout at the White House, prosecutors said Monday.
Both suspects made their initial court appearances Monday, the Justice Department said in a release. Jordan Rincker, 28, of St. Joseph, Mo. appeared in a Kansas City court, and William Lee Spartacus Falkner appeared before a judge in Tacoma, Wash.
They each have been charged by criminal complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
Prosecutors said Falkner was arrested midday Friday, while Rincker was arrested Sunday.
A total of seven people have now been arrested and charged in a sprawling scheme that federal authorities have said involved 23 people conspiring to attack the White House’s Freedom 250 event on June 14, staged in celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary and the birthday of President Donald Trump.
According to federal prosecutors, the alleged conspiracy planned to attack the north side of the event with explosive-carrying drones, which would force an evacuation to the south side of the event, where snipers would be deployed to open fire on the fleeing crowd, court documents state.
Authorities learned of the alleged attack from the parents of Tycen Proper, who alerted police to their son’s purchase of weapons and online activities. Proper, 19, was among the initial batch of five suspects arrested and charged last week.
The court documents state the group’s alleged grievances appear to be purported government corruption and involvement of U.S. lawyers with Israel.
FBI agents reviewing Proper’s communications were able to identify several alleged co-conspirators, including Falkner.
Prosectuors alleged that Falkner indicated in those communications that he had experience manufacturing and piloting drones and discussed loading them with explosives.
Online communications reproduced in the criminal complaint against Falkner allegedly show discussions on logistics of the attack, including potential flight costs, 3D printing and shipping of the drones.
“I can fly 40+ drones at the same time at the same target,” Falkner is alleged to have said.
Federal prosecutors alleged that just two days before the alleged attack, Rincker met Abraham Alvarez, 31, who was arrested and charged last week along with Proper, in person and accepted $1,200 from him. Rincker then allegedly sent a $100 CashApp payment from the money he received to another previously arrested and charged suspect, Bryan Roa, 24, to pay for his drive from California to Washington, D.C.
Authorities identified Rincker as an alleged member of the conspiracy through information they received from Alvarez following his arrest, according to court documents. Authorities also learned that Rincker allegedly gave a 12-gauge shotgun to Alvarez during an in-person meeting they had in Omaha.
The FBI executed search warrants for Rincker’s residence and storage unit, uncovering a trove of weapons and related paraphernalia, such as a gas mask with cartridge, night vision goggles, ballistic plates, a 3D printer and more.
No attack occurred at the UFC event, at which Trump and other members of his Cabinet were in attendance.
Asked about the thwarted attack a day after the event, Trump told reporters that he had heard about it.
“The attack that I watched were the fighters,” he said, to laughs.
“They were as good a fights as I’ve ever seen. The best.”
President Donald Trump and UFC CEO Dana White stand in the octagon after the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on June 14, 2026. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., announced the agreement that will set new standards for online platforms in respect to child users. File Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo
June 22 (UPI) — Leaders in the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced a bipartisan agreement Monday to advance the Kids Online Safety Act.
Committee Chairman Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., announced the agreement that will set new standards for online platforms in respect to child users.
The committee passed the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act in March on partisan lines but Monday’s deal brings some changes to the bill.
“Coming into this Congress, we knew that protecting children and teens online would be one of the most significant challenges this committee would have to address,” Guthrie and Pallone said in a joint statement. “Through empowering parents, establishing safety as a default, strengthening privacy for children and teens, increasing transparency around data brokers, and holding Big Tech accountable, the KIDS Act delivers the 21st century protections parents have demanded and our kids deserve.”
The updated bill is expected to be considered on the House floor next week.
The Senate is considering a different version of the Kids Online Safety Act. If the House bill passes, the differences between the bills will need to be resolved.
One of the key distinctions in the House version of the bill is the absence of a duty of care standard which would require social media companies to design their platforms with the safety of children in mind. This includes implementing measures that block children from consuming age-inappropriate content and assures the platform’s design does not contribute to compulsive use.
States would be allowed to implement stricter regulations.
President Donald Trump presents a Medal of Honor to Tom Ripley on behalf of his father, John W. Ripley, during a Medal of Honor award ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Thursday. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
“House of the Dragon” is unveiling the next chapter of its Targaryen family drama.
Premiering Sunday, Season 3 of HBO’s epic fantasy will pick up right after the events of the second season, which ended with Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), the displaced would-be ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, finally finding some momentum in her campaign to claim the Iron Throne.
The Targaryen civil war has been a bit of a slow burn so far, though both sides of the family have suffered major casualties. That’s likely to change in Season 3, now that both factions have added key reinforcements.
Why are the Targaryens fighting?
“House of the Dragon” is about the Targaryen war of succession known as the Dance of the Dragons. Rhaenyra’s claim to the Iron Throne stems from her father, King Viserys I, naming her his heir, despite women traditionally being overlooked in the line of succession.
But when King Viserys died, his eldest son Aegon was crowned king instead. King Aegon II is Rhaenyra’s younger half-brother who was born after she had already been announced as Viserys’ heir.
Rhaenyra’s supporters, known as the Blacks, include her uncle-turned-husband Daemon Targaryen and their children, as well as Corlys Velaryon.
Aegon’s faction, the Greens, includes his mother Alicent Hightower, Rhaenyra’s childhood friend; and siblings Helaena (his wife), Aemond and Daeron.
Daemon (Matt Smith) and Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) in “House of the Dragon” Season 3.
(Theo Whiteman / HBO)
What happened in Season 2?
Much of “House of the Dragon” Season 2 involved both sides assembling allies and establishing battle lines — but there was plenty of bloodshed along the way.
The season kicked off with Rhaenyra demanding vengeance against Aemond for killing her son Lucerys. Unfortunately, Daemon’s hired assassins killed Aegon’s young son Jaehaerys instead so any real possibility for a family reconciliation was lost.
The big battle of the season happened at Rook’s Rest, where Princess Rhaenys and her dragon Meleys were killed by Aemond and his dragon Vhagar while fighting Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre. Aegon was severely injured by Aemond and Vhagar in that battle.
Aemond was named Prince Regent in the aftermath, and seized control of the Iron Throne while Aegon recovered.
The Greens made a key alliance with the Triarchy to fortify its naval forces. The Blacks, meanwhile, essentially held open tryouts to find new dragonriders to add more aerial firepower. They also gained more ground troops thanks to Daemon’s efforts in the Riverlands.
How did the season end?
In the Season 2 finale, Alicent took a secret trip to Dragonstone to make a deal with Rhaenyra. She offered to essentially hand over the Iron Throne while Aemond was away if Rhaenyra promised to spare her and her family. When Rhaenyra insisted that Aegon had to die for her to properly claim victory, Alicent agreed.
Unfortunately for them, Aegon had snuck out of King’s Landing with the help of Larys Strong.
Meanwhile, various troops led by Criston Cole, Gwayne Hightower, Jason Lannister and others were on the move.
Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) is on the move in “House of the Dragon” Season 3.
(Theo Whiteman / HBO)
Just how many dragons are at this dance?
The Greens have four dragons ridden by the Targaryen siblings, but not all are currently available for battle.
Aegon and his dragon Sunfyre are both injured. Helaena, whose dragon is Dreamfyre, told Aemond that she would not join him in battle. The oldest and largest is Aemond’s dragon Vhagar, who has already triumphed over a couple of Team Black’s dragonriders.
Their youngest brother Daeron rides Tessarion, but they have not yet joined the fray.
The Blacks, meanwhile, currently have seven dragons among them, including Rhaenyra‘s beast Syrax. Daemon, who has the most experience in battle, rides Caraxes. Their children Jacaerys and Baela’s dragons are Vermax and Moondancer, respectively.
Newly added to the mix are lowborn dragonriders of Valyrian descent, Addam of Hull (whose father is Corlys Velaryon), Hugh and Ulf. Their respective dragons are Seasmoke, Vermithor and Silverwing.
There are also some wild dragons in Westeros like the one Rhaena (Daemon’s daughter, Baela’s sister) encounters in the Vale called Sheepstealer.
Dragons will battle in “House of the Dragon” Season 3.
(HBO)
What can we expect from Season 3?
Season 3 will kick off with a massive clash on the sea known as the Battle of the Gullet. This will involve Corlys Velaryon and his fleet trying to fend off an attack by Tyland Lannister and the Triarchy. It’s also no secret that Rhaenyra will make her way back to the Red Keep to claim King’s Landing.
New characters such as Ormund Hightower (Alicent’s cousin) and Daeron Targaryen (Alicent’s youngest son) will officially join the action for the Greens in Season 3. The Blacks can expect reinforcements from the north in the form of the Winter Wolves.
Other loose ends from previous seasons include Rhaena’s quest to tame a wild dragon and the status of Rhaenyra’s youngest children who were sent away for their safety. There is also the mystery around the captivity of Otto Hightower, Alicent’s father.
Ronda Rousey and Jake Paul have taunted the UFC and Dana White for failing to break Most Valuable Promotions’ MMA record audience figure with the White House event last week.
US broadcaster Paramount said UFC 250 Freedom on Sunday reached 7m people in the US on Paramount+.
Netflix said Rousey’s 15-second demolition of Gina Carano in May had a US average audience of 9.3m and a US “peak audience” of 11.6m.
Paul, who co-founded MVP with Nakisa Bidarian, wrote on X: “As a boxing promoter it feels good waking up today being the biggest MMA promoter.”
Paul has a history of taunting UFC president White, and the MVP-promoted Rousey v Carano event was positioned as a “takeover” of MMA by boxer Paul.
Rousey, who chose to fight on an MVP card rather than the UFC because of fight purse demands, reacted to news of the viewing figures by targeting UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell.
“Lmao [laughing my ass off]! Kiss my ass, Hunter Campbell,” Rousey said.
UFC White House, which had two title fights and was held on the south lawn of US President Donald Trump’s home, averaged 8.2m viewers across the US and Latin America.
Paramount said 17m people watched at least one minute of the event in those countries, including 15.3m in the US.
It said the live audience figures were verified by Nielsen, the industry standard in reporting TV viewership metrics, and Adobe Analytics.
Streaming giants Netflix did not release any figures other than for the US and did not say whether the numbers were verified by Nielsen or any other party.
Paramount suggested the UFC would release further global figures for the White House event.
American Justin Gaethje gave the Trump-fronted event a fairytale ending on the president’s 80th birthday by upsetting the odds to beat Ilia Topuria in the main event.
Gaethje, a Trump supporter, claimed the UFC lightweight title for the first time at the age of 37.
WASHINGTON — More than $350 million from President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” has been quietly directed to White House security, an allotment that Democrats warn appears to be helping fund his new ballroom project — despite the president’s insistence that no taxpayer dollars would be used.
The apportionment of funds, which the White House’s Office of Management and Budget made late Friday, comes from two accounts that were intended to provide the U.S. Secret Service with extra money for hiring and training in the aftermath of last year’s assassination attempts on the president, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee. The shift was made days after Congress rejected a $1-billion request for the White House in a Homeland Security bill that Trump signed into law and as the ballroom project is tangled in legal challenges.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, whose panel initially drafted the security funding, said Thursday he was unaware of the allocations.
“The president said that it was all going to be paid for with private money,” said Grassley (R-Iowa). “And that’s what the country expects.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, charged that Trump’s actions are potentially illegal.
“After repeatedly telling the American people that zero taxpayer dollars would be spent on his gold-plated ballroom boondoggle, now Trump appears to be using a smoke and mirrors tactic,” Merkley said in a statement.
“Trump has proven that he can’t be trusted to follow the law,” Merkley said. “He only cares about wasting taxpayer money on his vanity projects.”
Ballroom project hits setbacks
Trump has faced setbacks in his attempts to build the ballroom on the White House grounds, where he ordered the demolition of the storied East Wing to make way for it.
Touring the construction site last month, Trump called the development a “gift” to the American people. He has repeatedly said that it is being paid for by donations — which has also run into ethics questions from watchdogs concerned about potential corruption and conflicts of interest.
Congress refused the Trump administration’s request for $1 billion for the ballroom last month. The administration wanted the money as part of a Homeland Security bill, but Republican and Democratic lawmakers rejected efforts to tack it on. It became politically toxic at a time when Americans are reeling from inflationary high costs of living.
The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the price tag for the project has ballooned to $600 million, according to a project summary prepared by the contractor, with more than half of that funding coming from taxpayers. Roll Call first reported on the apportionment of new funds for White House security.
At its core, arguments are swirling over how much of the White House project is to bolster security underground, with bomb shelters and a medical facility, and how much of the costs are related to the president’s promised 999-seat ballroom on top.
White House says Trump and donors are paying for the ballroom
A spokesman for the White House said that Trump and donors are funding some $400 million for the ballroom development, and that the coordination with the Secret Service had been noted in the initial announcement of the project.
“The East Wing Modernization Project is inextricably tied to the security of the President, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets,” said White House spokesman Davis R. Ingle in a statement.
He said the events over the past weekend, including an alleged attack plan targeting the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, proves why the project is needed.
“President Trump and generous American patriots are funding the ballroom to the tune of approximately $400 million, which will be a secure and appropriate venue for Presidents for generations to come,” he said.
Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones and missiles.
The White House has said in court documents that the East Wing project would be “heavily fortified,” including bomb shelters, military installations and a medical facility underneath the ballroom. The Secret Service told senators last month that $220 million of the White House’s $1-billion request would go to harden the ballroom addition, with bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other systems.
The rest of the money would go for other security improvements, according to a document provided to Senate Republicans, including $180 million for a new, “long overdue” White House visitors screening facility.
Congress holds power of the purse
The shifting funds are certain to ignite growing concerns in Congress over the separation of powers, and the president’s use of federal funds allocated by lawmakers.
The money comes from Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill that the president signed into law last summer. It provided more than $1 billion for Secret Service resources, including “personnel, training facilities, programming, and technology; and performance, retention, and signing bonuses.”
The provision was uncontested at the time, even as Democrats voted against the broader bill. Democrats said they did not challenge this section or try to strip it out from the package.
Under the Constitution, only Congress has the specific authority to allocate funds across the federal government, including the executive and judicial branch operations.
While the president holds the power to sign — or veto — those appropriation bills, once the funding becomes law, it largely must stand.
Lesley Horton, the UK’s Chief Property Ombudsman, said: “If implemented carefully and supported by clear guidance and appropriate training, these reforms can create a home buying and selling system that is faster, fairer and better equipped to meet the needs of consumers in the years ahead.”
It started in Texas, where Trump strong-armed Republican lawmakers into redrawing their congressional map in hopes of boosting the GOP’s chances of keeping control of the House. That led California voters to pass an eye-for-an-eye measure aimed at boosting Democratic prospects.
For a short time, it looked as though Trump’s move had backfired and Democrats might actually come out ahead, at least on paper, by a seat or two.
And then?
And then the courts stepped in.
In a 4-3 decision in May, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the state’s new congressional map, ruling that the Democratic-run legislature had violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional measure on the ballot.
But the more significant legal decision came a week prior, when the U.S. Supreme Court nullified a major part of the federal Voting Rights Act, freeing several Southern states to hastily redraw a number of congressional districts to Republicans’ advantage.
What’s the bottom line?
It looks as though the GOP has come out ahead, but not by more than a handful of seats, give or take. It’s important to note that all that cartographic competition offers no guarantee of success.
“Cartographic competition?”
Those gerrymandered maps were drawn for the express purpose of helping out one party or the other, but the partisan manipulation doesn’t make all those redrawn districts a lock come November.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs legislation calling for a special election to redraw the state’s congressional map
(Godofredo A. Vasquez / Associated Press)
In California, for instance, the Central Valley seat held by Republican David Valadao — a perennial Democratic target — remains highly competitive. In Texas, GOP lawmakers redrew their map assuming the substantial Latino support that Trump enjoyed in 2024 would carry over to Republican candidates in this year’s midterm election. That seems increasingly less likely, given shifting Latino attitudes, which means at least two of those redrawn Texas seats are more competitive than Republicans would like.
Bottom line, where does that leave things in the fight for control of the House?
There are no certainties …
… Beyond death and taxes. Understood.
It still seems more likely than not that Democrats will win the House in November.
They just need to gain three seats. Going back more than half a century, the out party (which is to say the one not in the White House) has gained an average of more than two dozen House seats in the midterm election. So Democrats have that going for them.
President Trump kicked off a redistricting battle by strong-arming Texas into redrawing its congressional map.
(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
Also, more significantly, Trump’s approval ratings — in a word — stink. There’s a very strong correlation between a president’s standing in polls and his party’s performance, given midterm elections are almost always a referendum on the party in the White House. Since disgruntled voters are more likely to turn out, that means the out party typically gains seats.
“It would be one thing if Republicans were trying to buck a historical trend and they were doing so strengthened by a popular Republican president,” said Jacob Rubashkin, an analyst with the authoritative nonpartisan political guide Inside Elections. “But that’s simply not the case. … [Trump] is less popular than any president heading into a midterm election in a very long time.”
What about control of the Senate?
Advantage Republicans.
How so?
Part of it is straight-up math. Democrats need to flip four seats. There are 35 Senate races being decided this fall, but only 10 or so are even remotely competitive. Nearly all are in states that Trump carried.
There’s much less correlation between presidential approval and the outcome of Senate races. Still, Trump is putting up some pretty strong headwinds that Republicans will have to overcome this fall, including in battleground states such as Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina. (His gaseous effusions — “I love the inflation,” “Affordability is a con job” — are not helpful, to put it mildly, when gasoline and hamburger are costing hard-pressed voters an arm and a leg, respectively.)
And Democrats have done about as well as they could have hoped in landing their preferred candidates in the Republican-leaning states of Alaska, Ohio and Iowa, making those contests far more competitive than they would have been.
That started out as Democrats’ top target this election cycle. Five-term incumbent Susan Collins has the distinction of being the only Republican senator running in a state that Kamala Harris won. The race is still considered a toss-up.
But the nomination of Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and Marine Corps veteran with a history that is, um, problematic — a tattoo resembling a Nazi SS symbol he did or did not apprehend; extramarital sexting; coarse online commentary — could turn the race into more of a referendum on the Democrat than either Trump or Collins.
Democrats are giddy again, this time over 37-year-old state Sen. James Talarico, who’s built a national following with his telegenic, Christian-infused progressive platform. More pertinent, he’s running against a singularly flawed Republican nominee, state Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, whose dubious resume is muddied with a felony indictment, impeachment by the GOP-run Texas House and allegations of repeated adultery.
